PREDICTORS OF RANK-AND-FILE FEMINIST ACTIVISM - EVIDENCE FROM THE 1983 GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY

This study uses data from a nationally representative sample to identify predictors of rank-and-file feminist activism by women in the United States. Predictors are identified as relevant from the literatures on feminist attitudes, social movements, and political participation. Under a wide range of controls, activists are distinguished from nonactivists by certain attitudinal variables and by their higher levels of education, non-South residence, and greater labor force experience. Various microstructural factors suggested by recent work on social movements are not associated with activism among women who are highly concerned about women's rights, but do partially explain what little activism exists among women who are less concerned. These results suggest an inverse relationship between the importance people place on movement goals and the importance of microstructural factors for recruitment. The implications of the findings for social movement literature are also examined.